the human right to water and sanitation in emergency situations

14.4. Developing an advocacy strategy
The preceding sections have reviewed the various modalities of advocacy that ultimately all seek to effect
practical changes on the ground. Emergency contexts often make it difficult to articulate explicit strategies,
particularly where a situation changes rapidly. The following criteria should be met if a sound advocacy
base is to be created:
- understand the broader context of a particular situation. Man-made emergencies often result
from the convergence of a range of factors, from the local to the global level. This is most palpable in
situations of armed conflict where there are clashes of interests, but other crisis situations may also
reflect similar aspects. It is important for organizations engaged in advocacy to analysis these factors
and the ways in which they need to be taken into account in advocacy. Such analytical work is often
done as part of situation reporting, outside emergency contexts – these reports are therefore a useful
source of background research for use in planning advocacy work.
- It is essential, as highlighted above, that advocacy be backed up by impartial, factual research.
Although no-one usually disagrees with this approach in theory, carrying out impartial research
is often difficult in the fraught, tense context of emergencies. It is sometimes difficult for organizations
that are actively involved in bringing relief in emergencies to simultaneously prepare reports
and statements that take a distanced view of events – and such research may require more staff time
than organizations can make available in hectic emergency contexts. It therefore often makes sense
for organizations to pool their research and advocacy.
- The advocacy message must be effective. This usually means that the message must be relatively
simple (it should typically be no more than a sentence), and that it should be of relevance for all key
stakeholders without compromising their impartiality. This does not necessarily mean that the message
cannot be critical of one or another of the stakeholders. In many cases, however, the short message
will need to be backed-up by more comprehensive documents on specific aspects of the issue.
One pre-condition for fulfilling these criteria will often be the ability of organizations working on the right to
water to form an advocacy coalition that is appropriate both to the situation and to the selected strategy.
The WASH Cluster may often be a “natural” home for such a coalition, although not all members of the
Cluster may wish to be involved in a particular piece of advocacy.
Coalition-based advocacy needs to take account of the respective status and policies of the coalition
members. In practice, it is not necessary to obtain the unanimous agreement of all coalition members
on all aspects of an advocacy strategy: it is usually more effective to have the coalition agree on a core
message, each organization subsequently developing its own advocacy approach in coordination with the
others. This allows for diversity, and also takes advantage of the different strengths of the organizations
– for example some may be more experienced at advocating in international fora, whilst others may have
better access to authorities or other stakeholders.
14.5. Conclusion
- Part 3 - Advocacy on the right to water and sanitation in emergencies
The right to water and sanitation is increasingly recognized as a human right and thus provides humanitarian
actors and agencies with the wherewithal to develop advocacy campaigns that are not only “needsbased”,
but also, and more to the point, “rights-based”. It is hoped that this handbook has given impetus
to the reality that, when water and sanitation policy-makers and practitioners working to advance humani-
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